“And His disciples asked Him, saying, Why then say
the Scribes that Elias must first come?”

Not then from the Scriptures
did they know this, but the Scribes used to explain themselves, and
this saying was reported abroad amongst the ignorant people; as about
Christ also.

Wherefore the Samaritan woman also said, “Messiah
cometh; when He is come, He will tell us all things:”22152215John iv.
25.and they themselves asked John, “Art thou Elias, or the
Prophet?”22162216John i.
21. For the saying, as I said, prevailed, both that concerning the Christ
and that concerning Elias, not however rightly interpreted by them.

For the Scriptures speak of two advents of Christ, both
this that is past, and that which is to come; and declaring these Paul
said, “The grace of God, that bringeth salvation, hath appeared,
teaching us, that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should
live soberly, and righteously, and godly.”22172217Titus ii.
11, 12. [The Homily omits
“to all men.”] Behold the one, hear how he declares the other also; for having said
these things, he added, “Looking for the blessed hope and
appearing of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ.”22182218Tit. ii.
13. And the prophets too mention both; of the one, however, that is, of the
second, they say Elias will be the forerunner. For of the first, John
was forerunner; whom Christ called also Elias, not because he was
Elias, but because he was fulfilling the ministry of that prophet. For
as the one shall be forerunner of the second advent, so was the other
too of the first. But the Scribes, confusing these things and
perverting the people, made mention of that other only to the people,
the second advent, and said, “If this man is the Christ, Elias
ought to have come beforehand.” Therefore the disciples too speak
as follows, “How then say the Scribes, Elias must first
come?”

Therefore also the Pharisees sent unto John, and asked
him, “Art thou Elias?”22192219John i.
21.making no mention anywhere of the former advent.

What then is the solution, which Christ alleged?
“Elias indeed cometh then, before my second advent; and now too
is Elias come;” so calling John.

In this sense Elias is come: but if thou wouldest seek
the Tishbite, he is coming. Wherefore also He said, “Elias truly
cometh, and shall restore all things.”22202220Matt. xvii.
11. [R.V., “Elijah
indeed cometh,” etc.] All what things? Such as the Prophet Malachi spake of; for “I
will send you,” saith He, “Elias the Tishbite, who shall
restore the heart of father to son, lest I come and utterly smite the
earth.”22212221Mal. iv. 5,
6, LXX.

Seest thou the accuracy of prophetical language? how,
because Christ called John, Elias, by reasoning of their community of
office, lest thou shouldest suppose this to be the meaning of the
prophet too in this place, He added His country also, saying,
“the Tishbite;”22222222 [The Hebrew does not have this; the argument rests
on the inaccurate rendering of the LXX.]whereas John was not a Tishbite. And herewith He sets down another sign
also, saying, “Lest I come and utterly smite the earth,”
signifying His second and dreadful advent. For in the first He came not
to smite the earth. For, “I came not,” saith He, “to
judge the world, but to save the world.”22232223John xii.
47.

To show therefore that the Tishbite comes before that
other advent, which hath the judgment, He said this. And the reason too
of his coming He teaches withal. And what is this reason? That when He
is come, he may persuade the Jews to believe in Christ, and that they
may not all utterly perish at His coming. Wherefore He too, guiding
them on to that remembrance, saith, “And he shall restore all
things;” that is, shall correct the unbelief of the Jews that are
then in being.

Hence the extreme accuracy of his expression; in that he
said not, “He will restore the heart of the son to the
father,” but “of the father to the son.”22242224 See LXX. For the Jews being fathers of the apostles, his meaning is, that he
will restore to the doctrines of their sons, that is, of the apostles,
the hearts of the fathers, that is, the Jewish people’s mind.22252225 As to Elijah’s future coming, see St. Just.
Mart. Dial. adv. Tryph. p. 268, ed. Paris, 1636: Tert.
de Anim. 35; de Resur. Carnis, 22; Origen (more
doubtfully) in St. Matt. tom. 13, iii. 572; in St. Joan.
tom. 3, iv. 92. St. Jer. in St. Matt. xi, 15, (t. 7, 70.
Vallars. 1771), but doubtingly; in loco, p. 132, more
positively; St. Aug. in St. Joan. Tr. iv. 5, 6. de Civ.
Dei, 20, 29: who speaks positively of his coming to convert the
Jews, as being “a most common topic in the mouths and hearts of
the faithful.”

“But I say unto you, that Elias is come already,
and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed.
Likewise shall also the Son of Man suffer of them. Then they understood
that He spake to them of John.”22262226Matt. xvii.
12, 13.

And yet neither the Scribes said this, nor the
Scriptures; but because now they were sharper and more attentive to His
sayings, they quickly caught His meaning.

And whence did the disciples know this? He had already
told them, “He is Elias, which was for to come;”22272227Matt. xi.
14.but here, that he hath come; and again, that “Elias cometh and
will restore all things.” But be not thou troubled, nor imagine
that His statement wavers, though at one time He said, “he will
come,” at another, “he hath come.” For all these
things are true. Since when He saith, “Elias indeed cometh, and
will restore all things,” He means Elias himself, and the
conversion of the Jews which is then to take place; but when He saith,
“Which was for to come,” He calls John, Elias, with regard
to the manner of his administration. Yea, and so the prophets used to
call every one of their approved kings, David;22282228 This refers apparently to such texts as Jer. xxx. 9; Ezek. xxxiv. 23, 24, xxxvii.
24; Hos. iii. 5.and the Jews, “rulers of Sodom,”22292229Isa. i.
10.and “sons of Ethiopians;”22302230Amos ix.
7.because of their ways. For as the other shall be forerunner of the
second advent, so was this of the first.

2. And not for this only doth He call him Elias
everywhere, but to signify His perfect agreement with the Old
Testament, and that this advent too is according to prophecy.

Wherefore also He adds again, “He came, and they
knew him not, but have done unto him all things whatsoever they
listed.”22312231Matt. xvii.
12. What means, “call things whatsoever they listed?” They cast
him into prison, they used him despitefully, they slew him, they
brought his head in a charger.

“Likewise shall also the Son of Man suffer of
them.” Seest thou how again He in due season reminds them of His
passion, laying up for them great store of comfort from the passion of
John. And not in this way only, but also by presently working great
miracles. Yea, and whensoever He speaks of His passion, presently He
works miracles, both after those sayings and before them; and in many
places one may find Him to have kept this rule.

“Then,” for instance, it saith, “He
began to signify how that He must go unto Jerusalem, and be killed, and
suffer many things.”22322232Matt. xvi.
21.“Then:” when? when He was confessed to be Christ, and the
Son of God.

Again on the mountain, when He had shown them the
marvellous vision, and the prophets had been discoursing of His glory,
He reminded them of His passion. For having spoken of the history
concerning John, He added, “Likewise shall also the Son of Man
suffer of them.”

And after a little while again, when He had cast out the
devil, which His disciples were not able to cast out; for then too,
“As they abode in Galilee,” so it saith, “Jesus said
unto them, The Son of Man shall be betrayed into the hands of
sinful22332233 [“Sinful” (ἁμαρτωλν) is omitted in
some mss. of the Homily. It does not occur in
Matt. xvii. 22, but is taken from Luke xxiv. 7. Comp. Homily LVIII. at the
beginning.—R.]men, and they shall kill Him, and the third day He shall rise
again.”22342234Matt. xvii.
23.

Now in doing this, He by the greatness of the miracles
was abating the excess of their sorrow, and in every way consoling
them; even as here also, by the mention of John’s death, He
afforded them much consolation.

But should any one say, “Wherefore did He not even
now raise up Elias and send him, witnessing as He doth so great good of
his coming?” we should reply, that even as it was, while thinking
Christ to be Elias, they did not believe Him. For “some
say,” such are the words, “that Thou art Elias, and others,
Jeremias.”22352235Matt. xvi.
14. And indeed between John and Elias, there was no difference but the time
only. “Then how will they believe at that time?” it may be
said. Why, “he will restore all things,” not simply by
being recognized, but also because the glory of Christ will have been
growing more intense up to that day, and will be among all clearer than
the sun. When therefore, preceded by such an opinion and expectation,
he comes making the same proclamation as John, and himself also
announcing Jesus, they will more easily receive his sayings. But in
saying, “They knew him not,” He is excusing also what was
done in His own case.22362236 Comp. Luke
xxiii. 24.

And not in this way only doth He console them, but also
by pointing out that John’s sufferings at their hands, whatever
they are, are undeserved; and by His throwing into the shade what would
annoy them, by means of two signs, the one on the mountain, the other
just about to take place.

But when they heard these things, they do not ask Him
when Elias cometh; being
339
straitened either by grief at His passion, or by fear. For
on many occasions, upon seeing Him unwilling to speak a thing clearly,
they are silent, and so an end. For instance, when during their abode
in Galilee He said, “The Son of Man shall be betrayed, and they
shall kill Him;”22372237Matt. xvii.
22, 23.it is added by Mark, “That they understood not the saying, and
were afraid to ask Him;”22382238Mark ix.
32.by Luke, “That it was hid from them, that they might not perceive
it, and they feared to ask Him of that saying.”22392239Luke ix.
45.

3. “And when they were come to the multitude,
there came to Him a man, kneeling down to Him, and saying, Lord, have
mercy on my son, for he is lunatic, and sore vexed;22402240 [R.V., “for he is epileptic, and suffereth
grievously.”]for ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water. And I
brought him unto Thy disciples, and they could not cure him.”22412241Matt. xvii.
14–16.

This man the Scripture signifies to be exceedingly weak
in faith; and this is many ways evident; from Christ’s saying,
“All things are possible to him that believeth;”22422242Mark ix.
23.from the saying of the man himself that approached, “Help Thou
mine unbelief:”22432243Mark ix.
24.from Christ’s commanding the devil to “enter no more into
him;”22442244Mark ix.
25.and from the man’s saying again to Christ, “If Thou
canst.”22452245Mark ix.
22.“Yet if his unbelief was the cause,” it may be said,
“that the devil went not out, why doth He blame the
disciples?” Signifying, that even without persons to bring the
sick in faith, they might in many instances work a cure. For as the
faith of the person presenting oftentimes availed for receiving the
cure, even from inferior ministers; so the power of the doers
oftentimes sufficed, even without belief in those who came to work the
miracle.

And both these things are signified in the Scripture.
For both they of the company of Cornelius by their faith drew unto
themselves the grace of the Spirit; and in the case of Eliseus224622462 Kings
xiii. 21.again, when none had believed, a dead man rose again. For as to those
that cast him down, not for faith but for cowardice did they cast him,
unintentionally and by chance, for fear of the band of robbers, and so
they fled: while the person himself that was cast in was dead, yet by
the mere virtue of the holy body the dead man arose.

Whence it is clear in this case, that even the disciples
were weak; but not all; for the pillars22472247Gal. ii.
9.were not present there. And see this man’s want of consideration,
from another circumstance again, how before the multitude he pleads to
Jesus against His disciples, saying, “I brought him to Thy
disciples, and they could not cure him.”

But He, acquitting them of the charges before the
people, imputes the greater part to him. For, “O faithless and
perverse generation,” these are His words, “how long shall
I be with you?”22482248Matt. xvii.
17.not aiming at his person only, lest He should confound the man, but
also at all the Jews. For indeed many of those present might probably
be offended, and have undue thoughts of them.

But when He said, “How long shall I be with
you,” He indicates again death to be welcome to Him, and the
thing an object of desire, and His departure longed for, and that not
crucifixion, but being with them, is grievous.

He stopped not however at the accusations; but what
saith He? “Bring him hither to me.”22492249Mark ix.
21. And Himself moreover asks him, “how long time he is thus;”
both making a plea for His disciples, and leading the other to a good
hope, and that he might believe in his attaining deliverance from the
evil.

And He suffers him to be torn, not for display
(accordingly, when a crowd began to gather, He proceeded to rebuke
him), but for the father’s own sake, that when he should see the
evil spirit disturbed at Christ’s mere call, so at least, if in
no other way, he might be led to believe the coming miracle.

And because he had said, “Of a child,” and,
“If thou canst help me,” Christ saith, “To him that
believeth, all things are possible,”22502250Mark ix.
23.again giving the complaint a turn against him. And whereas when the
leper said, “If Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean,”22512251Matt. viii.
2.bearing witness to His authority Christ commending him, and confirming
His words, said, “I will, be thou clean;” in this
man’s case, upon his uttering a speech in no way worthy of His
power,—“If Thou canst, help me,”—see how He
corrects it, as not rightly spoken. For what saith He? “If thou
canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.”22522252Mark ix.
23. [The word πιστεσαι is read
here; The R.V. has a briefer reading. The entire passage in Mark shows
many variations of text.—R.] What He saith is like this: “Such abundance of power is with me,
that I can even make others work these miracles. So that if thou
believe as one ought, even thou thyself art able,” saith He,
“to heal both this one, and many others.” And having thus
said, He set free the possessed of the devil.

But do thou not only from this observe His providence
and His beneficence, but also from that other time, during which He
allowed the
340
devil to be in him.
Since surely, unless the man had been favored with much providential
care even then, he would have perished long ago; for “it cast him
both into the fire,” so it is said, “and into the
water.” And he that dared this would assuredly have destroyed the
man too, unless even in so great madness God had put on him His strong
curb: as indeed was the case with those naked men that were running in
the deserts and cutting themselves with stones.

And if he call him “a lunatic,” trouble not
thyself at all, for it is the father of the possessed who speaks the
word. How then saith the evangelist also, “He healed many that
were lunatic?”22532253Matt. iv.
24. [σεληνιαζομνου;
the same term occurs here, and is the basis of the
comment.—R.] Denominating them according to the impression of the multitude. For the
evil spirit, to bring a reproach upon nature,22542254το
στοιχεουπαραφερομνη.by wine? For the weaker the vessel, the more entire the shipwreck,
whether she be free or a slave. For the free woman behaves herself
unseemly in the midst of her slaves as spectators, and the slave again
in like manner in the midst of the slaves, and they cause the gifts of
God to be blasphemously spoken of by foolish men.

For instance, I hear many say, when these excesses
happen, “Would there were no wine.” O folly! O madness!
When other men sin, dost thou find fault with God’s gifts? And
what great madness is this? What? did the wine, O man, produce this
evil? Not the wine, but the intemperance of such as take an evil
delight in it. Say then, “Would there were no drunkenness, no
luxury;” but if thou say, “Would there were no wine,”
thou wilt say, going on by degrees, “Would there were no steel,
because of the murderers; no night, because of the thieves; no light,
because of the informers; no women, because of adulteries;” and,
in a word, thou wilt destroy all.

But do not so; for this is of a satanical mind; do not
find fault with the wine, but with the drunkenness; and when thou hast
found this self-same man sober, sketch out all his unseemliness, and
say unto him, Wine was given, that we might be cheerful, not that we
might behave ourselves unseemly; that we might laugh, not that we might
be a laughingstock; that we might be healthful, not that we might be
diseased; that we might correct the weakness of our body, not cast down
the might of our soul.

God honored thee with the gift, why disgrace thyself
with the excess thereof? Hear what Paul saith, “Use a little wine
for thy stomach’s sake, and thine often infirmities.”225522551 Tim. v.
23. But if that saint, even when oppressed with disease, and enduring
successive sicknesses, partook not of wine, until his Teacher suffered
341
him; what excuse shall we have,
who are drunken in health? To him indeed He said, “Use a little
wine for thy stomach’s sake;” but to each of you who are
drunken, He will say, “Use little wine, for thy fornications, thy
frequent filthy talking, for the other wicked desires to which
drunkenness is wont to give birth.” But if ye are not willing,
for these reasons, to abstain; at least on account of the despondencies
which come of it, and the vexations, do ye abstain. For wine was given
for gladness, “Yea, wine,” so it is said, “maketh
glad the heart of man:”22562256Ps. civ.
15.but ye mar even this excellence in it. For what kind of gladness is it
to be beside one’s self, and to have innumerable vexations, and
to see all things whirling round, and to be oppressed with giddiness,
and like those that have a fever, to require some who may drench their
heads with oil?22572257 Lightfoot, Harmony, A.D., 43. t. i. p. 333,
seems to show from Talmudic writers, that anointing was regularly used
among the Jews, either as a remedy or as a charm, in complaints of the
head especially; and he uses the fact to explain St. James v. 15.

6. These things are not said by me to all: or rather
they are said to all, not because all are drunken, God forbid; but
because they who do not drink take no thought of the drunken. Therefore
even against you do I rather inveigh, that are in health; since the
physician too leaves the sick, and addresses his discourse to them that
are sitting by them. To you therefore do I direct my speech, entreating
you neither to be at any time over-taken by this passion, and to draw
up22582258ἀνιμθαι.as by cords those who have been so overtaken, that they be not found
worse than the brutes. For they indeed seek nothing more than what is
needful, but these have become even more brutish than they, overpassing
the boundaries of moderation. For how much better is the ass than these
men? how much better the dog! For indeed each of these animals, and of
all others, whether it need to eat, or to drink, acknowledges
sufficiency for a limit, and goes not on beyond what it needs; and
though there are innumerable persons to constrain, it will not endure
to go on to excess.

In this respect then we are worse even than the brutes,
by the judgment not of them that are in health only, but even by our
own. For that ye have judged yourselves to be baser than both dogs and
asses,22592259 [The Oxford edition reads “apes,”
obviously a typographical error. The Greek word is ὄνωντν γνσιν.revealed to Peter, He doth hereby again confirm. And neither at this
did He stop, but by His very condescension declares this self-same
truth; an instance of exceeding wisdom.

For after thus speaking, He saith, “But lest we
should offend them, go thou and cast an hook into the sea, and take up
the fish that first cometh up, and thou shalt find therein a piece of
money;22602260 Literally, a stater, = 4 drachmas. [R.V.,
“shekel, Greek, stater.”]that take, and give unto them for me and thee.”22612261Matt. xvii.
27. [Slightly abridged.]

See how He neither declines the tribute, nor simply
commands to pay it, but having first proved Himself not liable to it,
then He gives it: the one to save the people, the other, those around
Him, from offense. For He gives it not at all as a debt, but as doing
the best22622262διορθνμενο
.for their weakness. Elsewhere, however, He despises the offense, when
He was discoursing of meats,22632263Matt. xv.
11.teaching us to know at what seasons we ought to consider them that are
offended, and at what to disregard them.

And indeed by the very mode of giving He discloses
Himself again. For wherefore doth He not command him to give of what
they have laid up? That, as I have said, herein also He might signify
Himself to be God of all, and the sea also to be under His rule. For He
had indeed signified this even already, by His rebuke, and by His
commanding this same Peter to walk on the waves; but He now again
signifies the self-same thing, though in another way, yet so as to
cause herein great amazement. For neither was it a small thing, to
foretell that the first, who out of those depths should come in his
way, would be the fish that would pay the tribute; and having cast
forth His commandment like a net into that abyss, to bring up the one
that bore the piece of money; but it was of a divine and unutterable
power, thus to make even the sea bear gifts, and that its subjection to
Him should be shown on all hands, as well when in its madness it was
silent,22642264Matt. viii.
26.and when, though fierce, it received its fellow servant;22652265Matt. xiv.
29.as now again, when it makes payment in His behalf to them that are
demanding it.

“And give unto them,” He saith, “for
me and thee.” Seest thou the exceeding greatness of the honor?
See also the self-command of Peter’s mind. For this point Mark,
the follower of this apostle, doth not appear to have set down, because
it indicated the great honor paid to him; but while of the denial he
wrote as well as the rest, the things that make him illustrious he hath
passed over in silence, his master perhaps entreating him not to
mention the great things about himself. And He used the phrase,
“for me and thee,” because Peter too was a firstborn
child.

Now as thou art amazed at Christ’s power, so I bid
thee admire also the disciple’s faith, that to a thing beyond
possibility he so gave ear. For indeed it was very far beyond
possibility by nature. Wherefore also in requital for his faith, He
joined him to Himself in the payment of the tribute.

3. “In that hour came the disciples unto Jesus,
saying, Who then is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”22662266Matt.
xviii. 1. [R.V., “Who
then is greatest (Greek, greater).” Compare the
comment.—R.]

The disciples experienced some feeling of human
weakness; wherefore the evangelist also adds this note, saying,
“In that hour;” when He had preferred him to all. For of
James too, and John, one was a firstborn son, but no such thing as this
had He done for them.

Then, being ashamed to avow their feeling, they say not
indeed openly, “Wherefore hast thou preferred Peter to us?”
or, “Is he greater than we are?” for they were ashamed; but
indefinitely they ask, “Who then is greater?” For when they
saw the three preferred, they felt nothing of the kind; but now that
the honor had come round to one, they were vexed. And not for this
only, but there were many other things which they put together to
kindle that feeling. For to him He had said, “I will give thee
the keys;”22672267Matt. xvi.
19.to him, “Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona;” to him here,
“Give unto them for me and thee;” and seeing too in general
how freely he was allowed to speak, it somewhat fretted them.

And if Mark saith,22682268Mark ix.
34.that they did not ask,
342
but
reasoned in themselves, that is nothing contrary to this. For it is
likely that they did both the one and the other, and whereas before, on
another occasion, they had had this feeling, both once and twice, that
now they did both declare it, and reason among themselves.

But to thee I say, “Look not to the charge against
them only, but consider this too; first, that they seek none of the
things of this world; next, that even this passion they afterwards laid
aside, and give up the first place one to another.” But we are
not able to attain so much as unto their faults, neither do we seek,
“who is greatest22692269 [μεζων “greater.”]in the kingdom of heaven;” but, who is greatest22702270 [R.V., “Except ye turn, and become as little
children,” but Chrysostom substitutes “this little
child.”—R.]in the earthly kingdom, who is wealthiest, who most powerful.

What then saith Christ? He unveils their conscience, and
replies to their feeling, not merely to their words. “For He
called a little child unto Him,” saith the Scripture, “and
said, Except ye be converted, and become as this little child, ye shall
not enter into the kingdom of heaven.”22712271Matt.
xviii. 2, 3.“Why, you,” He saith, “inquire who is greatest, and
are contentious for first honors; but I pronounce him, that is not
become lowest of all, unworthy so much as to enter in
thither.”

And full well doth He both allege that pattern, and not
allege it only, but also set the child in the midst, by the very sight
abashing them, and persuading them to be in like manner lowly and
artless. Since both from envy the little child is pure, and from
vainglory, and from longing for the first place; and he is possessed of
the greatest of virtues, simplicity, and whatever is artless and
lowly.

Not courage then only is wanted, nor wisdom, but this
virtue also, humility I mean, and simplicity. Yea, and the things that
belong to our salvation halt even in the chiefest point, if these be
not with us.

The little child, whether it be insulted and beaten, or
honored and glorified, neither by the one is it moved to impatience or
envy, nor by the other lifted up.

Seest thou how again He calls us on to all natural
excellencies, indicating that of free choice it is possible to attain
them, and so silences the wicked frenzy of the Manichæans? For if
nature be an evil thing, wherefore doth He draw from hence His patterns
of severe goodness?

And the child which He set in the midst I suppose to
have been a very young child indeed, free from all these passions. For
such a little child is free from pride and the mad desire of glory, and
envy, and contentiousness, and all such passions, and having many
virtues, simplicity, humility, unworldliness,22722272ἀπραγμοσνην
.prides itself upon none of them; which is a twofold severity of
goodness; to have these things, and not to be puffed up about them.

Wherefore He brought it in, and set it in the midst; and
not at this merely did He conclude His discourse, but carries further
this admonition, saying, “And whoso shall receive such a little
child in my name, receiveth me.”22732273Matt.
xviii. 5. [“one such
little child,” rec. text; so R.V.]

“For know,” saith He, “that not only,
if ye yourselves become like this, shall ye receive a great reward; but
also if for my sake ye honor others who are such, even for your honor
to them do I appoint unto you a kingdom as your recompence.” Or
rather, He sets down what is far greater, saying, “he receiveth
me. So exceedingly dear to me is all that is lowly and artless.”
For by “a little child,” here, He means the men that are
thus simple and lowly, and abject and contemptible in the judgment of
the common sort.

4. After this, to obtain yet more acceptance for His
saying, He establishes it not by the honor only, but also by the
punishment, going on to say, “And whoso shall offend one of these
little ones, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about
his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.”22742274Matt.
xviii. 6. [R.V., “but
whoso shall cause one of these little ones which believe in me to
stumble, it is profitable for him that a great millstone (Greek, a
millstone turned by an ass) should be hanged about his neck, and that
he should be sunk in the depth of the sea.” The Greek text of
Chrysostom agrees very closely with the received, but omits
“which believe in me.”—R.]

“For as they,” saith He, “who honor
these for my sake, have heaven, or rather an honor greater than the
very kingdom; even so they likewise who dishonor them (for this is to
offend them), shall suffer the extremity of punishment. And marvel thou
not at His calling the affront “an offense;”22752275 [σκνδαλον,
“stumbling block.”]for many feeble-minded persons have suffered no ordinary offense from
being treated with slight and insult. To heighten therefore and
aggravate the blame, He states the mischief arising therefrom.

And He doth not go on to express the punishment in the
same way, but from the things familiar to us, He indicates how
intolerable it is. For when He would touch the grosser sort most
sharply, He brings sensible images. Wherefore here also, meaning to
343
indicate the greatness of the
punishment they shall undergo, and to strike into the arrogance of
those that despise them, He brought forward a kind of sensible
punishment, that of the millstone, and of the drowning. Yet surely it
were suitable to what had gone before to have said, “He that
receiveth not one of these little ones, receiveth not me;” a
thing bitterer than any punishment; but since the very unfeeling, and
exceeding gross, were not so much penetrated by this, terrible as it
is, He puts “a millstone,” and “a drowning.”
And He said not, “A millstone shall be hanged about his
neck,” but, “It were better for him”22762276 [συμφερε ατ,
“it is profitable for him.”]to undergo this; implying that another evil, more grievous than this,
awaits him; and if this be unbearable, much more that.

Seest thou how in both respects He made His threat
terrible, first by the comparison with the known image rendering it
more distinct, then by the excess on its side presenting it to the
fancy as far greater than that visible one. Seest thou how He plucks up
by the root the spirit of arrogance; how He heals the ulcer of
vainglory; how He instructs us in nothing to set our heart on the first
honors; how He persuades such as covet them in everything to follow
after the lowest place?

5. For nothing is worse than arrogance.22772277ἀπονοα. This even takes men out of their natural senses, and brings upon them
the character of fools; or rather, it really makes them to be utterly
like idiots.

For like as, if any one, being three cubits in stature,
were to strive to be higher than the mountains, or actually to think
it, and draw himself up, as overpassing their summits, we should seek
no other proof of his being out of his senses; so also when thou seest
a man arrogant, and thinking himself superior to all, and accounting it
a degradation to live with other people, seek not thou after that to
see any other proof of that man’s madness. Why, he is much more
ridiculous than any natural fool, inasmuch as he absolutely creates
this his disease on purpose. And not in this only is he wretched, but
because he doth without feeling it fall into the very gulf of
wickedness.

For when will such an one come to due knowledge of any
sin? when will he perceive that he is offending? Nay, rather he is as a
vile and captive slave, whom the devil having caught goes off with, and
makes him altogether a prey, buffetting him on every side, and
encompassing him with ten thousand insults.

For unto such great folly doth he lead them in the end,
as to get them to be haughty towards their children, and wives, and
towards their own forefathers. And others, on the contrary, He causes
to be puffed up by the distinction of their ancestors. Now, what can be
more foolish than this? when from opposite causes people are alike
puffed up, the one sort because they had mean persons for fathers,
grandfathers, and ancestors; and the other because theirs were glorious
and distinguished? How then may one abate in each case the swelling
sore? By saying to these last, “Go farther back than your
grandfather, and immediate ancestors, and you will find perchance many
cooks, and drivers of asses, and shopkeepers:” but to the former,
that are puffed up by the meanness of their forefathers, the contrary
again; “And thou again, if thou proceed farther up among thy
forefathers, wilt find many far more illustrious than thou
art.”

For that nature hath this course, come let me prove it
to thee even from the Scriptures. Solomon was son of a king, and of an
illustrious king, but that king’s father was one of the vile and
ignoble. And his grandfather on his mother’s side in like manner;
for else he would not have given his daughter to a mere soldier. And if
thou wert to go up again higher from these mean persons, thou wilt see
the race more illustrious and royal. So in Saul’s case too, so in
many others also, one shall come to this result. Let us not then pride
ourselves herein. For what is birth? tell me. Nothing, but a name only
without a substance; and this ye will know in that day. But because
that day is not yet come, let us now even from the things present
persuade you, that hence arises no superiority. For should war overtake
us, should famine, should anything else, all these inflated conceits of
noble birth are put to the proof: should disease, should pestilence
come upon us, it knows not how to distinguish between the rich and the
poor, the glorious and inglorious, the high born and him that is not
such; neither doth death, nor the other reverses of fortune, but they
all rise up alike against all; and if I may say something that is even
marvellous, against the rich more of the two. For by how much they are
less exercised in these things, so much the more do they perish, when
overtaken by them. And the fear too is greater with the rich. For none
so tremble at princes as they; and at multitudes, not less than at
princes, yea rather much more; many such houses in fact have been
subverted alike by the wrath of multitudes and the threatening of
princes. But
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the poor man is
exempt from both these kinds of troubled waters.

6. Wherefore let alone this nobility, and if thou
wouldest show me that thou art noble, show the freedom of thy soul,
such as that blessed man had (and he a poor man), who said to Herod,
“It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother Philip’s
wife;”22782278Mark vi.
18.such as he was possessed of, who before him was like him, and after him
shall be so again; who said to Ahab, “I do not trouble Israel,
but thou, and thy father’s house;”227922791 Kings
xviii. 18.such as the prophets had, such as all the apostles.

But not like this are the souls of them that are slaves
to wealth, but as they that are under ten thousand tutors, and
taskmasters, so these dare not so much as lift up their eye, and speak
boldly in behalf of virtue. For the love of riches, and that of glory,
and that of other things, looking terribly on them, make them slavish
flatterers; there being nothing which so takes away liberty, as
entanglement in worldly affairs, and the wearing what are accounted
marks of distinction. For such an one hath not one master, nor two, nor
three, but ten thousand.

And if ye would fain even number them, let us bring in
some one of those that are in honor in kings’ courts, and let him
have both very much wealth, and great power, and a birthplace excelling
others, and distinction of ancestry, and let him be looked up to by all
men. Now then let us see, if this be not the very person to be more in
slavery than all; and let us set in comparison with him, not a slave
merely, but a slave’s slave, for many though servants have
slaves. This slave’s slave then for his part hath but one master.
And what though that one be not a freeman? yet he is but one, and the
other looks only to his pleasure. For albeit his master’s master
seem to have power over him, yet for the present he obeys one only; and
if matters between them two are well, he will abide in security all his
life. But our man hath not one or two only, but many, and more grievous
masters. And first he is in care about the sovereign himself. And it is
not the same to have a mean person for a master, as to have a king,
whose ears are buzzed into by many, and who becomes a property now to
this set and now to that.

Our man, though conscious of nothing, suspects all; both
his comrades and his subordinates; both his friends and his
enemies.

But the other man too, you may say, fears his master.
But how is it the same thing, to have one or many, to make one
timorous? Or rather, if a man inquire carefully, he will not find so
much as one. How, and in what sense? Whereas that slave hath no one
that desires to put him out of that service of his, and to introduce
himself (whence neither hath he any one to plot against him therein);
these have not even any other pursuit, but to unsettle him that is more
approved and more beloved by their ruler. Wherefore also he must needs
flatter all, his superiors, his equals, his friends. For where envy is,
and love of glory, there even sincere friendship has no strength. For
as those of the same craft cannot love one another with a perfect and
genuine love, so is it with rivals in honor also, and with them that
long for the same among worldly objects. Whence also great is the war
within.

Seest thou what a swarm of masters, and of hard masters?
Wilt thou that I show thee yet another, more grievous than this? They
that are behind him, all of them strive to get before him: all that are
before him, to hinder him from coming nearer them, and passing them
by.

7. But O marvel! I undertook indeed to show you masters,
but our discourse, we find, coming on and waxing eager, hath performed
more than my undertaking, pointing out foes instead of masters; or
rather the same persons both as foes and as masters. For while they are
courted like masters, they are terrible as foes, and they plot against
us as enemies. When then any one hath the same persons both as masters,
and as enemies, what can be worse than this calamity? The slave indeed,
though he be subject to command, yet nevertheless hath the advantage of
care and good-will on the part of them who give him orders; but these,
while they receive commands, are made enemies, and are set one against
another; and that so much more grievously than those in battles, in
that they both wound secretly, and in the mask of friends they treat
men as their enemies would do, and oftentimes make themselves credit of
the calamity of others.

But not such are our circumstances; rather should
another fare ill, there are many to grieve with him: should he obtain
distinction, many to find pleasure with him. Not so again the apostle:
“For whether,” saith he, “one member suffer, all the
members suffer with it; or one member be honored, all the members
rejoice with it.”228022801 Cor. xii.
26. And the words of him who gives these admonitions, are at one time,
“What is my hope or joy? are not even ye?”228122811 Thes. ii.
19.at another, “Now we live, if ye
345
stand fast in the Lord;”228222821 Thes.
iii. 8.at another, “Out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote
unto you;”228322832 Cor. ii.
4.and, “Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is offended, and I burn
not?”228422842 Cor. xi.
29.

Wherefore then do we still endure the tempest and the
billows of the world without, and not run to this calm haven, and
leaving the names of good things, go on to the very things themselves?
For glory, and dignity, and wealth, and credit, and all such things,
are names with them, but with us realities; just as the grievous
things, death and dishonor and poverty, and whatever else is like them,
are names indeed with us, but realities with them.

And, if thou wilt, let us first bring forward glory, so
lovely and desirable with all of them. And I speak not of its being
short-lived, and soon put out, but when it is in its bloom, then show
it me. Take not away the daubings and colored lines of the harlot, but
bring her forward decked out, and exhibit her to us, for me thereupon
to expose her deformity. Well then, of course thou wilt tell of her
array, and her many lictors, and the heralds’ voice, and the
listening of all classes, and the silence kept by the populace, and the
blows given to all that come in one’s way, and the universal
gazing. Are not these her splendors? Come then, let us examine whether
these things be not vain, and a mere unprofitable imagination. For
wherein is the person we speak of the better for these things, either
in body, or in soul? for this constitutes the man. Will he then be
taller hereby, or stronger, or healthier, or swifter, or will he have
his senses keener, and more piercing? Nay, no one could say this. Let
us go then to the soul, if haply we may find there any advantage
occurring herefrom. What then? Will such a one be more temperate, more
gentle, more prudent, through that kind of attendance? By no means, but
rather quite the contrary. For not as in the body, so also is the
result here. For there the body indeed gains nothing in respect of its
proper excellence; but here the mischief is not only the soul’s
reaping no good fruit, but also its actually receiving much evil
therefrom: hurried as it is by such means into haughtiness, and
vainglory, and folly, and wrath, and ten thousand faults like them.

“But he rejoices,” thou wilt say, “and
exults in these things, and they brighten him up.” The crowning
point22852285κολοφνα.of his evils lies in that word of thine, and the incurable part of the
disease. For he that rejoices in these things, would be unwilling
however easily to be released from that which is the ground of his
evils; yea, he hath blocked up against himself the way of healing by
this delight. So that here most of all is the mischief, that he is not
even pained, but rather rejoices, when the diseases are growing upon
him.

For neither is rejoicing always a good thing; since even
thieves rejoice in stealing, and an adulterer in defiling his
neighbor’s marriage bed, and the covetous in spoiling by
violence, and the manslayer in murdering. Let us not then look whether
he rejoice, but whether it be for something profitable, lest22862286 [The Greek text has διασκεψμεθα,
which the translator has ignored: “Let us consider well,
lest,” etc.—R.]perchance we find his joy to be such as that of the adulterer and the
thief.

For wherefore, tell me, doth he rejoice? For his credit
with the multitude, because he can puff himself up, and be gazed upon?
Nay, what can be worse than this desire, and this ill-placed fondness?
or if it be no bad thing, ye must leave off deriding the vainglorious
and aspersing them with continual mockeries: ye must leave off uttering
imprecations on the haughty and contemptuous. But ye would not endure
it. Well then, they too deserve plenty of censure, though they have
plenty of lictors. And all this I have said of the more tolerable sort
of rulers; since the greater part of them we shall find transgressing
more grievously than either robbers, or murderers, or adulterers, or
spoilers of tombs, from not making a good use of their power. For
indeed both their thefts are more shameless, and their butcheries more
hardened, and their impurities far more enormous than the others; and
they dig through, not one wall, but estates and houses without end,
their prerogative making it very easy to them.

And they serve a most grievous servitude, both stooping
basely under their passions,22872287 [Some mss. insert here:
κα το
συνδολου
τπτοντε
φειδ, “and
beating the fellow servants unsparingly.” But it is put in
brackets by Field.—R.]and trembling at all their accomplices. For he only is free, and he
only a ruler, and more kingly than all kings, who is delivered from his
passions.

Knowing then these things, let us follow after the true
freedom, and deliver ourselves from the evil slavery, and let us
account neither pomp of power nor dominion of wealth, nor any other
such thing, to be blessed; but virtue only. For thus shall we both
enjoy security here, and attain unto the good things to come, by the
grace and love towards man of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory
and might, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, world without end.
Amen.

2225 As to Elijah’s future coming, see St. Just.
Mart. Dial. adv. Tryph. p. 268, ed. Paris, 1636: Tert.
de Anim. 35; de Resur. Carnis, 22; Origen (more
doubtfully) in St. Matt. tom. 13, iii. 572; in St. Joan.
tom. 3, iv. 92. St. Jer. in St. Matt. xi, 15, (t. 7, 70.
Vallars. 1771), but doubtingly; in loco, p. 132, more
positively; St. Aug. in St. Joan. Tr. iv. 5, 6. de Civ.
Dei, 20, 29: who speaks positively of his coming to convert the
Jews, as being “a most common topic in the mouths and hearts of
the faithful.”

2257 Lightfoot, Harmony, A.D., 43. t. i. p. 333,
seems to show from Talmudic writers, that anointing was regularly used
among the Jews, either as a remedy or as a charm, in complaints of the
head especially; and he uses the fact to explain St. James v. 15.

2274Matt.
xviii. 6. [R.V., “but
whoso shall cause one of these little ones which believe in me to
stumble, it is profitable for him that a great millstone (Greek, a
millstone turned by an ass) should be hanged about his neck, and that
he should be sunk in the depth of the sea.” The Greek text of
Chrysostom agrees very closely with the received, but omits
“which believe in me.”—R.]